How to Become a Home Inspector: Step-by-Step Guide

With an average annual salary of over $70,000 and a flexible schedule, home inspection can be a great career option for anyone who wants a fulfilling and well paid career in real estate. In this guide, you’ll learn everything you need to know to start a lucrative career as a home inspector.

Step 1. Learn the Licensing Requirements in Your State

The first step to becoming a home inspector is to find out what licenses you need to start working in your state. The requirements can vary from no license at all in Idaho all the way to a high school degree, coursework, exam, licensure, and an apprenticeship in Texas. Check the map below to see your state’s requirements. Beneath the map, we’ve also included a table with the requirements for the largest states.

Requirements to Become a Home Inspector by State

State

Requirements

California

None

Texas

Pre-licensing courses: 128 classroom hours

Exam: yes

New York

Pre-licensing courses: 140 classroom hours

Exam: yes

Florida

Pre-licensing courses: 120 classroom hours

Exam: yes

Illinois

Pre-licensing courses: 60 hours + 40 experience hours

Exam: yes

Step 2. Take an Honest Assessment of Your Construction Knowledge

As a certified home inspector, it will be your job to judge the safety and integrity of the structural, heating, plumbing, and electrical systems of people’s homes. In order to do this properly, you need to have a thorough understanding of how houses, from Victorian mansions to LEED certified modern homes, are built and maintained.

Do you have a detailed understanding of how houses, both old and new, are built? Do you know how heating, plumbing, and electrical systems should be installed to ensure safety, value, and efficiency? If so, then great, you are one step closer to becoming a home inspector.

If you don’t have construction experience…

While most home inspectors start out with some construction experience, it’s not necessary to get started. People from all walks of life have started new careers as home inspectors. As long as you’re willing to work hard, you can too. Welmoed Sisson, a licensed home inspector in Maryland, agrees:

“I’ve met a lot of home inspectors who came from engineering, IT, teaching, manufacturing…You name it. Bob used to be in IT; it was a high-stress/low-happiness job. Friends suggested that since he liked houses and figuring out what was wrong with them, he might like doing home inspections. That was more than 12 years ago, and we’ve never been happier.”

If you don’t already have construction experience, the best way to learn is by taking home inspection pre-licensing courses or general construction courses.

Step 3. Take an Honest Assessment of Your People Skills

After technical knowledge, people skills are the second most important thing you need to become a successful home inspector. In order to keep the lights on, you will need to build and maintain relationships with realtors and homeowners. Realtors will often use the same home inspector for multiple deals. In order to keep them happy, you need great people skills.

Even without building relationships, home inspection can be incredibly stressful for everyone involved. When a realtor or homeowner calls you for an inspection, that means they are very close to closing their deal. That deal might represent months of hard work and have tens of thousands of dollars in commissions hanging in the balance. They need your inspection to be accurate. Keeping a cool head and working well under pressure can be the difference between success and failure in home inspection.

Step 4. Find Courses and Training that Work for You

While there are many places that offer the standard courses required for getting your home inspection licence, Brightwood, a trusted name in professional education for more than 70 years, offers some of the best in the industry. When you’re ready to start researching coursework, Brightwood should be the first name on your list. They offer home inspection licensing courses in over 25 states.

Step 5. Pass Your State’s Home Inspection Licensing Exam*

Even if you have extensive knowledge of construction and building systems, you still need to pass your state’s licensing exam.

There is ALWAYS more to learn. For example, you may be an expert on roofing, but need to brush up on electrical. You will also need to keep up with the latest advances in building materials and techniques. This is why many states require continuing education for you to keep your license after passing the exam. Chances are, even your home inspection course instructor has to take continuing education courses to keep his or her license.

Even if your state doesn’t have continuing education requirements, as a new home inspector, you will still need to compete with home inspectors who have decades of professional experience. They have seen it all, done it all, and know it all. In order to stay competitive, more education and training are always helpful.

Step 6. Join ASHI

While there are no laws requiring you to join ASHI (The American Society of Home Inspectors) to work as a home inspector, joining can only help your career. The organization offers top notch education, networking opportunities, and industry standard professional certifications.

While getting professionally certified by ASHI requires extensive training and experience, joining now will show your future employer or clients that you take your career seriously. If you’re working in a state with no licensing requirements, this is the best way you can show them you take your career seriously.

Here’s New York based home inspector Steve Rosenbaum, on the benefits of joining ASHI:

“As a home inspector, if you don’t belong to a national organization you tend to operate in a vacuum. Belonging to ASHI national and joining a local chapter allows you to keep current of any changes in the laws governing home inspectors and helps keep you up to date on all of the latest changes in technology and business practices. ASHI stresses education and is the founding principle of the organization.”

“I’m a member of ASHI. These organizations establish and advocate high standards of practice and a strict code of ethics for the home inspector members. The Mission of ASHI is to set and promote standards for property inspections and to provide the educational programs needed to achieve excellence in the profession and to meet the needs of our members. It also gives clients and customers the peace of mind that their home inspector is trained and adheres to a high standard of practice when completing an inspection.”

Step 7. Choose How You Want to Work

Once you pass the licensing exam or are otherwise qualified in your state, there are three ways to start working as a home inspector:

Work for an established inspection firm

Working for an established home inspection company is the easiest way to start working as a home inspector. Since the company will already have an established brand, marketing strategy, professional certification, and a steady stream of clients, you can start working immediately with very little upfront costs compared to starting from scratch on your own.

However, working for an established company can have its drawbacks:

You may make less money.

If you are working for them as an independent contractor, the company will take anywhere from 40-60% of the inspection fee charged to the client as their cut. Even though you’re not paying many of the startup costs associated with a new business, you will still need to pay for licensing, association dues, tools, and vehicle maintenance. You may even have to purchase your own insurance.

You may have to sign a non-compete.

Some companies will also ask you to sign a non-compete agreement. This means that you may be legally prohibited from working in any areas the company works in if you decide to leave (at least for a limited period of time). If a company you’re interviewing with asks you to sign a non-compete agreement, read it very carefully (or have your lawyer review it) before accepting the job.

Start Your Own Inspection Firm

By starting your own inspection company, you can control every aspect of your business. Your potential earnings are also only limited by how hard you’re willing to work. An experienced solo home inspector can make anywhere from $60,000 to $80,000 per year doing 8-10 inspections per week. Once you start recruiting new inspectors to work for your firm, the sky’s the limit. However, there are drawbacks here as well:

Risks and Expenses

Like many jobs with unlimited earning potential, there are risks and expenses involved with starting your own inspection business. Advertising, tools, liability and errors and omission insurance, association dues, office space, and vehicle care will all eat into your bottom line.

Getting Clients from Realtors

The easiest way to keep the lights on as a home inspector is to get referrals from realtors. The problem is that most experienced realtors are more than likely already working with experienced home inspectors. Convincing them to work with you instead can be extremely difficult. However, strong networking can get realtors to send business your way.

Buy a Franchise

Another way to start working as a home inspector is to purchase a franchise. When you buy a home inspection franchise, you buy a complete turn key business that you can start making money with immediately. This can be better than joining an established firm as an employee because you would own your own business.

And with a franchise, you will start with the benefit of a recognized brand, marketing materials, relationships with major realty companies, industry specific software, and often rights to sales territory.

One of the best best benefits of choosing a franchise is that you can hit the ground running as soon as you finish your course and pass the exam. Here’s Greg Mangiaracina, president and founder of A-pro Home Inspection on the benefits of buying a franchise:

“From day one, they can enjoy an established internet presence, guidance from corporate office professionals, the wisdom of other franchisees, and marketing muscle that frees up time so they can focus on fostering local relationships – the real key to growing and sustaining a franchise. That takes persistence and dedication. For those willing to put in the hours, owning a franchise can be the ideal choice for launching a home inspection career.”

While owning a home inspection franchise might make Greg a little biased, that doesn’t mean the benefits aren’t there. It can save a huge amount of time, trial and error, and effort to join a franchise. The only drawback is that the upfront costs might be higher than hanging your shingle.

If you’re interested in learning more about purchasing a home inspection franchise, below are the top four home inspection franchise opportunities. For more information on franchise financing in general, check out our Franchise Financing Guide.

Step 8. Never Stop Learning

Like any career worth having, a career in home inspection requires you to constantly learn new skills to stay competitive. Building technology can change very quickly, and there are dozens of additional professional certifications you can get to diversify your business and make more money.

Home Inspector Certifications

Here is a quick rundown of some of the new certifications you can get to enhance your skill set and attract new business. Many of these certification courses are free! Click on the links below to learn more about each certification.

Experienced Home Inspectors Love Their Careers

“I started a home inspection business because of the low overhead and high potential income. I went the franchise route with A-Pro, and now 22 years later it turns out to be the best business decision I’ve ever made.”

“It gives me much satisfaction to wake up each day knowing that I will help someone make one of the most important decisions of their lives–buying a home. I love my job! If I had to do it all over again, it would be a no brainer.”

The Bottom Line

With a salary average well above most real estate career options and a flexible schedule, home inspection can be a great new career or second income stream. It takes hard work to become an inspector, but that hard work can pay off.

About the Author

As a Real Estate Sales and Marketing Analyst at Fit Small Business, Emile is responsible for the editorial direction of the site’s real estate content as well as curating actionable insights from top producing agents and brokerages from across the country. A licensed New York City Real Estate Agent and veteran of the marketing department at Tishman Speyer, Emile has been involved in every aspect of residential real estate from brand new developments to pre-war rentals and resales. Emile also regularly provides market insights and commentary for publications like Realtor.com, Fox News, Yahoo, and US News & World Report. When he’s not writing or editing, Emile enjoys collecting vintage furniture and playing his guitar.

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Comments (39)Disclaimer: Reviews on FitSmallBusiness.com are the product of independent research by our writers, researchers, and editorial team. User reviews and comments are contributions from independent users not affiliated with FitSmallBusiness.com's editorial team. Banks, issuers, credit card companies, and other product & service providers are not responsible for any content posted on FitSmallBusiness.com. As such, they do not endorse or guarantee any posted comments or reviews.Post Your Comment

I am 21 years old with 1 year of experience in new construction HVAC. I am willing to keeping learning and expanding my knowledge to become a professional and certified home inspector for my city. Is 21 an early age; have you encounter with inspectors that are 20-25 years old?

I don’t know the age breakdown for home inspectors, but anecdotally at least many seem to be middle aged. That said, you have to start somewhere. As long as you can prove you know your stuff I can’t see a reason why you won’t get work.

The cost of classes can vary pretty widely and how long it will take to actually start working depends on a lot of factors, including your previous experience and knowledge of construction, your market, and your needs for salary, hours etc. Sorry I can’t be more specific here.

I am really excited at the idea of persuing this new career however I have one issue, I won’t be able to climb underneath houses to check for what I know are really important issues. Is there anyway around that other than taking someone else with me?

This is a tricky one, but I would suggest reaching out to local home inspection companies to see if they can use the help, maybe even as an apprentice or something until you get going. You could also join ASHI and take some courses through them to show that you’re serious.

The inspection business is booming right now. Tons of opportunities for people to jump in with both feet, or part time. It’s kind of the wild west at times because of so many unlicensed states. It’s up to inspectors everywhere to raise the bar of standards to protect the consumer. Great article.

I think this depends largely on what area of the country you’re talking about. Some areas are seeing tons of new construction and resales, while others have been relatively stagnant. Still, it’s a good business to get into assuming you have some prerequisite skills/knowledge in order to compete.

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